manahawkin massage

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: What Can You Do About It

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: What Can You Do About It

If you ever experience pain, tingling, or numbness in your hand and fingers, specifically the thumb, index, and middle fingers, then you may want to get checked for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. CTS is a fairly common problem resulting from pressure on the median nerve by the transverse carpal ligament, a broad band of tissue that wraps around the wrist. This compression is most often the result of repetitive movements of the wrist and fingers such as typing, assembly line work, sewing, etc. It also seems to show up alongside other conditions such as hypothyroidism, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and is even a common side effect of pregnancy.

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Chronic Pain vs Acute Pain

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Chronic Pain vs Acute Pain

Pain is something everyone is well acquainted with. It doesn’t discriminate. No matter who you are, what your ethnicity, or the amount of money you have in your bank account; at some point in your life you will experience pain. The problem is when you experience pain more frequently than normal, and it gets in the way of your daily activities or your quality of life.

You hear terms such as chronic pain and acute pain, but what do they really mean, and when should you be concerned?

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Massage for Older People: The Benefits of Touch

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Massage for Older People: The Benefits of Touch

Most of us enjoy a massage to help us ease our tension and soothe away aches and pains. Elderly people can really benefit from regular massage, as it’s such an enjoyable and relaxing, non-invasive way to help manage the inevitable symptoms that go hand in hand with getting older.

There’s no doubt that a regular massage has the potential to help improve your quality of life, and this applies to elderly people too.

Demystifying Bulging and Herniated Discs

Demystifying Bulging and Herniated Discs

You’ve probably heard the terms bulging disc or herniated disc at some point, whether it involved you or someone you knew. While those words can strike fear in a lot of people, it’s important to understand what they really mean, and remove the scary presumptions we have about them, as well know what’s “normal” and what’s not when it comes to our discs.

Within the spine you have numerous structures, but the two we’re focusing on here are your vertebrae (the individual bones of the spine), and the discs (the cartilage ‘cushion’ in between each of those vertebrae). These discs act as shock absorbers that allow your spine to move in different directions and deal with regular impact without damaging the other spinal structures.

So, what is a bulging disc and what is a herniated disc?

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The Glutes: Are They the Cause to your Pain?

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The Glutes: Are They the Cause to your Pain?

Even if you’re not someone well-versed in anatomy, you’ve probably heard the term glutes, or heard of your gluteal muscles. These are the muscles that make up the majority of your buttock; and while it may seem odd to think much about this area other than how it looks in your favorite jeans, there is actually an important connection from these muscles to many other aspects of the body. They can correlate to a number of pain and movement issues that can arise through the back, hips, and legs, so taking care of this area is crucial. 

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The Six Major Types of Headaches and How They Can Be Treated

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The Six Major Types of Headaches and How They Can Be Treated

At some point in our lives, we all experience a headache. There are some people who get headaches quite frequently, and others who very rarely experience one. If you find that you’re getting headaches on a regular basis, it’s definitely worth your time to find out why and what you can do about it. Did you know there are different types of headaches, and different causes and treatments for each? Let’s look at each.

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How Stress Affects Your Body

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How Stress Affects Your Body

We all wear many hats in our busy lives. Whether you work or stay home, have children or don’t, own a business or work for someone else, if you’re human, you have stress. Period. It’s an unavoidable part of life. And while you may feel the emotional weight of all that stress, the anxiety, depression, and negative thoughts most often associated with it, stress can also take a huge toll on your body.

Can Massage Ease your Allergy Symptoms?

Can Massage Ease your Allergy Symptoms?

Spring is here! The flowers are blooming and life is springing forth all around us. It’s beautiful, but it also means it’s a terrible time of year for those who suffer from seasonal allergies. The constant sneezing, itchy eyes, and congestion…it’s no fun! The FDA estimates that up to 36 million people in the US suffer from seasonal allergies.

Allergies are basically just an over-reaction of your immune system to an otherwise harmless substance – like pollen. Did you know that massage can help combat seasonal allergies?

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Can Massage Help High Blood Pressure?

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Can Massage Help High Blood Pressure?

Did you know that one in three adults in America have high blood pressure, or hypertension? While the majority of those diagnosed with high blood pressure are 65 years or older, those under 65 are not immune. There are certain behaviors that increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, including smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, an unhealthy diet, and being overweight. While blood pressure normally increases in stressful situations, chronic stress seems to be even more of a contributing factor to developing high blood pressure. Depending on the severity of your hypertension, your doctor may suggest lifestyle changes and/or prescribe medication to lower it. Even if you’re prescribed medication, lifestyle changes are still recommended to get the most benefit and get your body in control of your blood pressure instead of solely relying on the medication to do so.

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Sciatica: Is it Piriformis Syndrome or Your Lower Back?

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Sciatica: Is it Piriformis Syndrome or Your Lower Back?

When seeking answers for low back, hip, and leg pain, you may have heard the term Sciatica. This condition occurs when the sciatic nerve (the largest nerve in the body) is irritated or inflamed, causing pain, tingling, and/or numbness felt along part or all of the nerve path; most often starting in the low back or the buttock and traveling down the outer leg, even all the way down to the foot in some cases.

This irritation of the Sciatic nerve is actually quite common, and is often attributed to one of two causes, Piriformis Syndrome or a spinal abnormality in the low back; with a pretty even 50/50 split between the two.

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Cupping: What It Is & Why You Should Try It

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Cupping: What It Is & Why You Should Try It

Cupping is a traditional Chinese therapy that’s been used for thousands of years, but it gained even more popularity in 2016 when everyone noticed that Michael Phelps had large perfectly round discolorations on his back while competing in the Olympics. Many people before that had never heard, or never been exposed to this type of bodywork.

To learn more, continue reading!

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Massage and Depression

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Massage and Depression

Depression is an all-too-common struggle for people all over the globe. According to the World Health Organization, it’s estimated that 350 million people suffer from depression. While there are many treatment options, one you may not have thought of is massage therapy. Massage can decrease muscle tension and ease some of the daily physical stress you may put on your body, but it can also go beyond just making you feel good.

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Five Conditions You May Be Surprised Can Benefit From Massage

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Five Conditions You May Be Surprised Can Benefit From Massage

While many consider massage therapy to be a luxury or simply for relaxation purposes, you might be surprised to know that massage has many more benefits beyond that. Massage therapy has been shown to improve a wide variety of medical conditions, and here’s 5 that you may be surprised by.

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Four Common Causes of Muscle Cramps (and how to stop them)

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Four Common Causes of Muscle Cramps (and how to stop them)

At some point in your life you’ve probably had muscle cramps; when a muscle that normally only does what you tell it to do, suddenly gets a mind of its own and decides to contract, even when you tell it to calm down. They can hit during a workout or just when you move a certain way, or they may even wake you up in the middle of the night.

Muscle cramps are very common, and while usually harmless, they can be extremely painful, and can signal that something else is wrong within your body. While cramping an occur in any muscle, the lower legs and feet tend to be the most common.

So if you’re suffering with muscle cramps, check out these 4 common causes and how to remedy the situation.

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It's Okay if you Didn't Shave...Really!

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It's Okay if you Didn't Shave...Really!

Let’s face it, getting a massage takes a lot of vulnerability. You are letting your therapist see parts of your body that you don’t allow most people to see. Your stretch marks, scars, cellulite, and birthmarks are exposed and you’re trusting us to respect your boundaries and treat you with the utmost honor and respect.

While some people have an unlimited supply of self-confidence that allows them to feel comfortable in most any situation, some put themselves under a microscope critiquing every inch of their body. We often forget that each mark is a memory or a lesson. Your stretch marks may mark an incredible journey of the time you welcomed a child into the world, the time you chose a healthier lifestyle and released extra pounds you had, or the time that you decided to enjoy life and be happy with who you were instead of obsessively counting calories or limiting yourself. Your scars may be from an accident that taught you how precious life was, or the time you refused to listen to your mom when you were 5 and learned a valuable life lesson. Your cellulite shows that your skin isn’t absolutely perfect, just like all those people using photo shop and filters to fool the world. Your birthmarks show you live, that you are uniquely made and there is no other like you. But there’s another common concern a lot of clients have, particularly women.

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The Importance of Your Breath

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The Importance of Your Breath

We’ve all been breathing since the moment of our birth, but did you know that we’re often doing it wrong? While the way you typically breath will keep you alive, it’s often not as efficient at keeping you at peak performance. That’s because we all leave it up to our unconscious brain to keep up this basic function without thought, which is fine for the most part. However, if you take the time to think through your breathing and practice new ways to breathe, you can often alter how your brain and body work.

Depending on what you’re doing, or attempting to do, you may need to alter your breathing in order to achieve it. Try one of these techniques the next time you need to be more alert or you need to calm down.

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Getting Deep into your Fascia

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Getting Deep into your Fascia

You might have heard your massage therapist talking about working on your fascia and connective tissues – ever wondered what they were talking about? 

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What to Expect in a Hot Stone Massage

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What to Expect in a Hot Stone Massage

As the temperatures outside get cooler you may find that your body is craving warmth. Why not try out a hot stone massage? If you’ve never had one, and you’re not quite sure what to expect, you've come to the right blog.

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How to Make Positive Changes in the New Year (without Feeling like a Failure)

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How to Make Positive Changes in the New Year (without Feeling like a Failure)

Every year during the holiday season, we get a serious urge to start working on our New Year’s resolutions. Everyone is deciding what it is they would like to change in the upcoming year in order to better themselves and that involves making new changes. For some this breeds anxiety and sometimes even sets them up for failure when thinking that their resolutions must match those of others. Be careful not to fall into that trap. Make a resolution that speaks to you! Only you know where you’re at in your life, the things you struggle with, and the things you could work on. What means a lot to you may not mean a lot to others. What will be a massive change for you, may be a minor change for others and vice versa.

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Realistic Ways to Implement Your New Year's Resolutions

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Realistic Ways to Implement Your New Year's Resolutions

Along with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that is upon us, this time of year brings the pressure to create resolutions for the new year that’s right around the corner. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” While many are content with their place in life, there are many people who feel they haven’t met their true potential or made it to the goals they have set. Life is inevitably changing around us daily and with that we must adapt to our environment. While you don’t necessarily have to have the usual or common resolutions, making a resolution that fits your goals and needs is the best way to grow for yourself and your loved ones.